According to a report from The Chronicle-Journal newspaper, the quarterly non-tax gaming revenue payments covered the three months from October and means that the Ontario city of some 108,000 people has received almost $30.2 million since the 14,000 sq ft Casino Thunder Bay opened in August of 2000 offering approximately 450 slots as well as 14 gaming tables.

“The Ontario Lottery And Gaming Corporation provides host municipalities with significant revenues each year that help communities invest in local priorities such as infrastructure and programs and services that benefit Ontario families,” read a statement from Michael Gravelle, a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly representing the Thunder Bay-Superior North constituency. “Along with supporting local development, these funds directly benefit Ontario’s vital public services such as health care and education.”

Since 1975, the Ontario Lottery And Gaming Corporation explained that it has handed out nearly $33.2 billion to communities and players while host areas have received over $986.6 million via its non-tax gaming revenue payments program.

“These investments benefit our entire community and strengthen our local economy,” read a statement from Bill Mauro, a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly representing the Thunder Bay-Atikokan constituency.

The Ontario Lottery And Gaming Corporation declared that it provides authorities in the nation’s most populous province with their largest single non-tax source of annual revenues at about $1.5 billion while it has committed to gifting just over $86.5 million this fiscal year in order to support charities through its Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Last month saw the state-run Ontario Lottery And Gaming Corporation sign a deal that will see Vancouver-based Gateway Casinos And Entertainment Limited take over the management and operation of Casino Thunder Bay for the next 20 years. The agreement, which also covered existing facilities in Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury along with proposed venues around the small cities of North Bay and the Kenora, will see the Crown corporation reduce its efforts to a regulatory role while continuing to make quarterly non-tax gaming revenue payments to Thunder Bay worth around $451,600.